Accessing faceted information using ontologies

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems and computer readable media are provided for accessing faceted information using ontologies. Information for an initial entity, including different ontologies to which the initial entity belongs, is retrieved. Entities within different ontologies are determined. The determined entities and different ontologies are displayed on a user interface to enable traversal of the different ontologies for viewing of the determined entities. Accordingly, a user may search for an initial entity. Different ontologies, linked to the initial entity may be returned. A user may select an ontology, and ontologies in which the initial entity belongs are displayed. The user may select any of the displayed ontologies to access other entities in the selected ontology.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

Present invention embodiments relate to accessing faceted information,and in particular, to using ontologies to access faceted information.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

In recent years, advances in computing and artificial intelligence haveenabled routine ingestion of large data sets. While numerous types ofsystems are able to ingest large data sets, analyzing the informationand presenting the information to the user in a way that enablesinterpretation remains difficult. In some aspects, databases mayclassify entities into a plurality of ontologies. While searching for anentity in such systems returns information about the entity,understanding the context of the entity is often limited.

SUMMARY

According to embodiments of the present invention, methods, systems andcomputer readable media for accessing faceted information usingontologies are provided. Information for an initial entity includingdifferent ontologies to which the initial entity belongs is retrieved.Entities within the different ontologies are determined. The determinedentities and different ontologies are presented on a user interface toenable traversal of the different ontologies for viewing of thedetermined entities. In an embodiment, ontologies may be traversed in arecursive manner, in which an initial entity returns a set of differentontologies. An ontology is selected, and entities corresponding to theselected ontology (co-occurring entities) are returned. This process maybe repeated, allowing a user to traverse through a network of entitieslinked to ontologies.

It is to be understood that the Summary is not intended to identify keyor essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor isit intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure.Other features of the present disclosure will become easilycomprehensible through the description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Generally, like reference numerals in the various figures are utilizedto designate like components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing environment foraccessing multifaceted information in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 2A-2C are graphical illustrations of traversing an ontology inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example computer-implemented method ofaccessing multifaceted information in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a high-level flowchart of an example computer-implementedmethod of accessing multifaceted information in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An example environment for use with present invention embodiments isillustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, the environment 100 includes one ormore server systems 10 and one or more client or end-user systems 20.Server system 10 and client system 20 may be remote from each other andmay communicate over a network 35. The network may be implemented by anynumber of any suitable communications media (e.g., wide area network(WAN), local area network (LAN), Internet, Intranet, etc.).Alternatively, server system 10 and client system 20 may be local toeach other, and may communicate via any appropriate local communicationmedium (e.g., local area network (LAN), hardwire, wireless link,Intranet, etc.).

Client system 20 enables users to interact with server system 10 toanalyze large sets of data (e.g., data from documents, etc.) and todetermine relationships between entities and ontologies (e.g., documentscomprising medical information, biological information, chemical andscientific information, etc.). The server systems include a cognitivesystem 15, which comprises various modules to access multi-facetedinformation.

A database system 30 may store various information for the analysis(e.g., entities 32, ontologies 34, entity to ontology mapping data 36,etc.). The database system may be implemented by any conventional orother database or storage unit, may be local to or remote from serversystem 10 and client system 20, and may communicate via any appropriatecommunication medium (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network(WAN), Internet, hardwire, wireless link, Intranet, etc.). The clientsystems may present a graphical user (e.g., GUI, etc.) or otherinterface (e.g., command line prompts, menu screens, etc.) to solicitinformation from users pertaining to the desired documents and analysis(e.g., input of entities and selection of corresponding differentontologies), and may provide reports including analysis results (e.g., adisplay showing entity and ontology relationships, etc.).

Server system 10 and client system 20 may be implemented by anyconventional or other computer systems preferably equipped with adisplay or monitor, a base (e.g., including at least one processor 16,22 one or more memories 17, 24 and/or internal or external networkinterfaces or communications devices 18, 26 (e.g., modem, network cards,etc.)), optional input devices or user interfaces 19, 28 (e.g., akeyboard, mouse or other input device), and any commercially availableand custom software (e.g., server/client communications software,cognitive system 15 software, etc.).

Alternatively, client system 20 may facilitate access of multifacetedinformation when operating as a stand-alone unit. In a stand-alone modeof operation, the client system stores or has access to the data (e.g.,entities 32, ontologies 34, entity to ontology mapping data 36, etc.),and includes a cognitive system 15 to facilitate access of multifacetedinformation. The graphical user (e.g., GUI, etc.) or other interface(e.g., command line prompts, menu screens, etc.) solicits informationfrom a corresponding user pertaining to the desired entity, and mayprovide ontologies corresponding to the entity based on the techniquesprovided herein.

Cognitive system 15 may include one or more modules or units to performthe various functions of present invention embodiments described below.The various modules (e.g., ontology classifier module 105, ontologymapping module 115, ontology display module 125, etc.) may beimplemented by any combination of any quantity of software and/orhardware modules or units, and may reside within memory 17 of the serverand/or client systems for execution by processors 16, 22. Ontologyclassifier module 105 classifies entities as belonging to one or moreontologies. In some aspects, an ontology may be provided by a user. Inother aspects, the system may generate the ontology and classifyentities based on the ontology. Ontology mapping module 115 mapsentities to one or more ontologies, allowing entities to be linked toentire sets of information in mapped ontologies, instead of beinglimited to the selected entity.

Ontology display module 125 allows a user to traverse between entitiesand ontologies, by selecting entities or ontologies, according to thetechniques provided herein. These modules are described in additionaldetail below, and with reference to the figures.

FIG. 2 shows example search results of searching for an entity in asystem comprising multifaceted information. In this example, the initialentity ‘Zn’ for zinc is provided as input to cognitive system 15. Insome aspects, a synonym for the entity may be entered into the searchfield, and the system may normalize the synonym to the canonical name ofthe entity.

The system may comprise any number of entities, and each entity may belinked to any number of ontologies. An entity in some systems mayinclude a gene name, a chemical name or structure, a drug name, or adisease name. In general, an ontology is the class to which an entitybelongs. For example, a specific drug may be assigned to an ontology,while a gene name may be assigned to a different ontology. Otherentities may be assigned to the same ontology as the drug, e.g.,including but not limited to, structurally similar compounds, orcompounds having a similar mechanism or mode of action as the drug, etc.

Ontologies may be derived from structured sources, which are parsed andloaded into the database such that a many-to-many mapping of ontologiesand entities is generated. In general, each ontology can have one ormore entities, and each entity can also belong to one or moreontologies.

Structured information and documents may be retrieved relating to theinitial entity as well as the various ontologies to which the initialinput entity belongs. For example, ontology information may bepresented, showing different classes/categories to which the initialinput entity belongs to. Mapping and display of such ontologies providesfor faceted browsing of co-occurring entities in a respective ontologyas well as corresponding documents.

As an example, search results for the initial input entity ‘Zn’ includethree different ontologies: Alimentary Tract and Metabolism, Acetates,and Inorganic Compounds. Any of these ontologies may be selected toaccess co-occurring entities within the same ontology as the initialentity, in this case, ‘Zn’.

FIG. 2B shows the results of selecting the ontology entitled AlimentaryTract and Metabolism. Once this ontology is selected, the user may viewco-occurring entities in the selected ontology. In this case, theco-occurring entities are [F−].[Na+], IDURSULFASE, and OC(═O)CC(O),which each share the ontology “Alimentary Tract and Metabolism”.

This process may be repeated across all ontologies and entities. Anentity within the Alimentary Tract and Metabolism may be selected, e.g.,OC(═O)CC(O), and co-occurring entities and documents for this selectedchemical structure ontology may be provided. In some embodiments, thisprocess may be repeated three or more times.

Thus, the user may enter an initial entity to retrieve differentontologies to which the initial entity belongs; may retrieve differententities (e.g., co-occurring entities) by selection of a differentontology; may select a co-occurring entity to retrieve associatedontologies of the co-occurring entity, and so forth. This techniqueprovides for a way to a user to browse through a system having mappedentity to ontology relationships. Relationships for the initial entity,e.g., to other ontologies and other entities, may be identified based onrelationships of similar entities (with regard to the initial entity) toother entities.

In other aspects, entities co-occurring with the initial or determinedentities may be identified within a common document. Co-occurringentities may be filtered based on ontologies of the co-occurringentities. For example, with regard to FIGS. 2A-2B, a user may wish todisplay documents comprising the initial entity and a determined entity,within an ontology, e.g., documents comprising “Zn” and “idursulfase”within the ontology “alimentary tract and metabolism”.

In still other aspects, documents containing the initial or determinedentities may be filtered based on ontologies of those entities. Forexample, with regard to FIGS. 2A-2B, a user may wish to displaydocuments comprising the initial entity within an ontology, e.g.,documents comprising “Zn” within the ontology “alimentary tract andmetabolism”. Alternatively, a user may wish to display documentscomprising a determined entity within an ontology, e.g., documentscomprising “idursulfase” within the ontology “alimentary tract andmetabolism”.

FIG. 2C shows an example implementation of present inventionembodiments. In this example, a user searches for genes relevant toCREB1. A list of different ontology categories are returned. A user mayselect an ontology category, e.g., “Secretory Granule Organization” toreturn genes related to CREB1 (e.g., gene 1-gene 3) and all other genesin the selected ontology category (e.g., gene 4-gene N).

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of example operations of accessing facetedinformation. At operation 310, a user enters a search term which is theinitial entity (or a synonym thereof) via a user interface. At operation320, if the search term is a synonym, the system may normalize thesearch term to one of the canonical names for the entity, present withinthe cognitive system (e.g., entity data 32). After normalization (ifapplicable) to a canonical name, a search may be conducted at operation330 to return information pertaining to the initial entity, and also todifferent ontologies that the initial entity belongs to. In someaspects, all the ontologies for a particular initial entity arereturned. At operation 340, a different ontology of the initial entityis selected, and at operation 350, co-occurring entities belonging tothe selected different ontology are returned and displayed to the user.

A user may select an associated ontology at operation 360 (e.g., anontology of the co-occurring entities), and may return and displayanother set of entities at operation 370. By repeating operations 360and 370, additional entity/ontology relationships may be accessed,allowing the user to browse through multi-faceted information usingcognitive system 15.

Additionally, a user may browse/filter co-occurring entities ordocuments. During the process of finding co-occurring entities, allontologies for the co-occurring entities may be found, allowing a userto group, filter, and browse the co-occurring entities by ontology.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of example operations at a high level ofaccessing faceted information. According to operation 410, informationis retrieved for an initial entity including different ontologies towhich the initial entity belongs. According to operation 420, entitieswithin the different ontologies are determined. According to operation430, the determined entities and different ontologies are presented on auser interface to enable traversal of the different ontologies forviewing of the determined entities.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above andillustrated in the drawings represent only a few of the many ways ofimplementing embodiments for accessing multi-faceted information.

Present invention embodiments pertain to enhancing entity look-up byproviding information about the different ontologies/classes to whichthe entity belongs to provide a faceted search. The user is able tobrowse through the various ontologies/classes to view the differententities, or leverage the ontologies to filter or browse theco-occurring entities and documents for the entered entity.

Additionally, new relationships may be discovered using the presenttechniques. For example, a user of the system may discover newrelationships between entities and ontologies that would otherwise notbe apparent, without classification of entities into ontologies. Forexample, if a user is interested in identifying compounds to treat aparticular disease, the system may facilitate identification of entities(e.g., as pharmacological leads or pharmacological targets) based on anontological classification. For example, and in reference to biologicalpathways, classification of entities into ontologies may revealconnections in biological pathways, e.g., for pathways thought to bedivergent or unrelated. Accordingly, a pharmacological drug that affectsthe first pathway may also be a candidate for affecting the secondpathway. Accordingly, such techniques allow novel relationships to bediscovered by virtue of ontologies, and improve the operation of thesystem by connecting entities to ontologies, thereby allowing browsingand filtering of information that was previously not accessible.

The environment of the present invention embodiments may include anynumber of computer or other processing systems (e.g., client or end-usersystems 20, server systems 20, etc.) and databases or other repositoriesarranged in any desired fashion, where the present invention embodimentsmay be applied to any desired type of computing environment (e.g., cloudcomputing, client-server, network computing, mainframe, stand-alonesystems, etc.). The computer or other processing systems employed by thepresent invention embodiments may be implemented by any number of anypersonal or other type of computer or processing system (e.g., desktop,laptop, PDA, mobile devices, etc.), and may include any commerciallyavailable operating system and any combination of commercially availableand custom software (e.g., browser software, communications software,server software, cognitive module 15 and corresponding submodules,etc.). These systems may include any types of monitors and input devices(e.g., keyboard, mouse, voice recognition, etc.) to enter and/or viewinformation.

It is to be understood that the software (e.g., cognitive system 15,ontology classifier module 105, ontology mapping module 115, andontology display module 125, etc.) of the present invention embodimentsmay be implemented in any desired computer language and could bedeveloped by one of ordinary skill in the computer arts based on thefunctional descriptions contained in the specification and flow chartsillustrated in the drawings. Further, any references herein of softwareperforming various functions generally refer to computer systems orprocessors performing those functions under software control. Thecomputer systems of the present invention embodiments may alternativelybe implemented by any type of hardware and/or other processingcircuitry.

The various functions of the computer or other processing systems may bedistributed in any manner among any number of software and/or hardwaremodules or units, processing or computer systems and/or circuitry, wherethe computer or processing systems may be disposed locally or remotelyof each other and communicate via any suitable communications medium(e.g., LAN, WAN, Intranet, Internet, hardwire, modem connection,wireless, etc.). For example, the functions of the present inventionembodiments may be distributed in any manner among the variousend-user/client and server systems, and/or any other intermediaryprocessing devices. The software and/or algorithms described above andillustrated in the flow charts may be modified in any manner thataccomplishes the functions described herein. In addition, the functionsin the flow charts or description may be performed in any order thataccomplishes a desired operation.

The software of the present invention embodiments (e.g., cognitivesystem 15, ontology classifier module 105, ontology mapping module 115,and ontology display module 125, etc.) may be available on anon-transitory computer useable medium (e.g., magnetic or opticalmediums, magneto-optic mediums, floppy diskettes, CD-ROM, DVD, memorydevices, etc.) of a stationary or portable program product apparatus ordevice for use with stand-alone systems or systems connected by anetwork or other communications medium.

The communication network may be implemented by any number of any typeof communications network (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet, Intranet, VPN,etc.). The computer or other processing systems of the present inventionembodiments may include any conventional or other communications devicesto communicate over the network via any conventional or other protocols.The computer or other processing systems may utilize any type ofconnection (e.g., wired, wireless, etc.) for access to the network.Local communication media may be implemented by any suitablecommunication media (e.g., local area network (LAN), hardwire, wirelesslink, Intranet, etc.).

The system may employ any number of any conventional or other databases,data stores or storage structures (e.g., files, databases, datastructures, data or other repositories, etc.) to store information(e.g., entities 32, ontologies 34, entity to ontology mapping data 36,etc.). The database system may be implemented by any number of anyconventional or other databases, data stores or storage structures(e.g., files, databases, data structures, data or other repositories,etc.) to store information (e.g., entities 32, ontologies 34, entity toontology mapping data 36, etc.). The database system may be includedwithin or coupled to the server and/or client systems. The databasesystems and/or storage structures may be remote from or local to thecomputer or other processing systems, and may store any desired data(e.g., entities 32, ontologies 34, entity to ontology mapping data 36,etc.).

The present invention embodiments may employ any number of any type ofuser interface (e.g., Graphical User Interface (GUI), command-line,prompt, etc.) for obtaining or providing information (e.g., entities 32,ontologies 34, entity to ontology mapping data 36, etc.), where theinterface may include any information arranged in any fashion. Theinterface may include any number of any types of input or actuationmechanisms (e.g., buttons, icons, fields, boxes, links, etc.) disposedat any location to enter/display information and initiate desiredactions via any suitable input devices (e.g., mouse, keyboard, etc.).The interface screens may include any suitable actuators (e.g., links,tabs, etc.) to navigate between the screens in any fashion.

The ontology display may include any information arranged in anyfashion, and may be configurable based on rules or other criteria toprovide desired information to a user (e.g., entity to ontology mapping,entities, ontologies, etc.).

The present invention embodiments are not limited to the specific tasksor algorithms described above, but may be utilized for any set of datain which entity ontology relationship information is needed. The datamay represent biological data, chemical data, medical data, etc. Inother aspects, the data may be from other scientific or technicaldisciplines.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, “includes”, “including”, “has”, “have”, “having”, “with”and the like, when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for accessing faceted information usingontologies, the system comprising at least one processor configured to:classify entities as belonging to the ontologies to providerelationships between the entities and the ontologies; retrieveinformation for a first entity of a search including differentontologies to which the first entity belongs; present the differentontologies of the first entity on a user interface and select apresented ontology of the first entity; determine second entitiesco-occurring with the first entity within a common document of theselected ontology of the first entity; present the determined secondentities co-occurring with the first entity on the user interface;select a presented second entity on the user interface and retrieveinformation for the second entity including different ontologies towhich the second entity belongs; present the different ontologies of thesecond entity on the user interface and select a presented ontology ofthe second entity, wherein a relationship of the first entity to theselected ontology of the second entity is not provided by theclassification of the entities; determine third entities co-occurringwith the second entity within a common document of the selected ontologyof the second entity; present the determined third entities co-occurringwith the second entity on the user interface and select a presentedthird entity on the user interface; identify a new relationship for thefirst entity to the selected ontology of the second entity based ontraversing the selected ontologies of the first and second entities;identify a relationship between the first entity and the third entitybased on co-occurrence of the first entity and the second entity in thecommon document of the selected ontology of the first entity andco-occurrence of the second entity and the third entity in the commondocument of the selected ontology of the second entity; and searchdocuments of the ontologies for the search by determining differentontologies for co-occurring entities of the selected ontologies of thefirst and second entities, filtering the co-occurring entities byontology for browsing, and displaying the documents containing at leastone of the browsed co-occurring entities and one of the first, second,and third entities.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: determine entities within thedifferent ontologies of the first entity similar to the first entity. 3.The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: identify additional relationships for the first entitybased on relationships of the similar entities to other entities.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: filter the co-occurring second entities of the selectedontology of the first entity based on ontologies of the co-occurringsecond entities.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: filter documents containing thefirst, second or third entities based on ontologies of those entities.6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to repeat selecting, determining and presenting ontologiesand co-occurring entities to identify additional relationships.
 7. Acomputer program product for accessing faceted information usingontologies, the computer program product comprising one or more computerreadable storage media collectively having program instructions embodiedtherewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to:classify entities as belonging to the ontologies to providerelationships between the entities and the ontologies; retrieveinformation for a first entity of a search including differentontologies to which the first entity belongs; present the differentontologies of the first entity on a user interface and select apresented ontology of the first entity; determine second entitiesco-occurring with the first entity within a common document of theselected ontology of the first entity; present the determined secondentities co-occurring with the first entity on the user interface;select a presented second entity on the user interface and retrieveinformation for the second entity including different ontologies towhich the second entity belongs; present the different ontologies of thesecond entity on the user interface and select a presented ontology ofthe second entity, wherein a relationship of the first entity to theselected ontology of the second entity is not provided by theclassification of the entities; determine third entities co-occurringwith the second entity within a common document of the selected ontologyof the second entity; present the determined third entities co-occurringwith the second entity on the user interface and select a presentedthird entity on the user interface; identify a new relationship for thefirst entity to the selected ontology of the second entity based ontraversing the selected ontologies of the first and second entities;identify a relationship between the first entity and the third entitybased on co-occurrence of the first entity and the second entity in thecommon document of the selected ontology of the first entity andco-occurrence of the second entity and the third entity in the commondocument of the selected ontology of the second entity; and searchdocuments of the ontologies for the search by determining differentontologies for co-occurring entities of the selected ontologies of thefirst and second entities, filtering the co-occurring entities byontology for browsing, and displaying the documents containing at leastone of the browsed co-occurring entities and one of the first, second,and third entities.
 8. The computer program product of claim 7, whereinthe program instructions executable by the processor further includeinstructions to: determine entities within the different ontologies ofthe first entity similar to the first entity.
 9. The computer programproduct of claim 8, wherein the program instructions executable by theprocessor further include instructions to: identify additionalrelationships for the first entity based on relationships of the similarentities to other entities.
 10. The computer program product of claim 7,wherein the program instructions executable by the processor furtherinclude instructions to: filter the co-occurring second entities of theselected ontology of the first entity based on ontologies of theco-occurring second entities.
 11. The computer program product of claim7, wherein the program instructions executable by the processor furtherinclude instructions to: filter documents containing the first, secondor third entities based on ontologies of those entities.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructionsexecutable by the processor further include instructions to repeatselecting, determining and presenting ontologies and co-occurringentities to identify additional relationships.